My Dinner With Warren

While some of Warren Buffett's more devoted apostles battle it out on eBay for a seat at the master's annual charity lunch, Wall Street's golden children have another option to get face time with the famed financier: Support Hillary.

Senator Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign will hold a swanky fundraising event this evening at the Sheraton in Midtown Manhattan. The guest list includes a coterie of bankers, hedge fund managers, and private equity execs.

Buffett, who has yet to endorse any Presidential candidate, will show his support for the front running Democrat by acting as the guest of honor at a 50-person dinner, then speaking to a larger group later this evening.

The Street's elite paid $1,000 for a cocktail ticket (though "young professionals" could pick one up for $500). Snagging one of the 50 seats at dinner represents a $4,600 donation, the maximum individual contribution allowed by law.

Of course, that's all chump change to many of the power brokers that make up the Wall Street chapter of Hillary's fan club. Program "hosts" each raised a minimum of $10,000 through pooling donations. Among the high rollers in the private equity sphere tonight are Quadrangle's Steve Rattner, Thomas H. Lee, Allen & Company's Stan Shuman, and Silverlake's Glenn Hutchins.

Major hedge fund supporters include Roger Altman (Evercore), Glenn Dubin (Highbridge), Jim Simons (Renaissance Technologies), D.E. Shaw's David Shaw, and Perry Capital namesake Richard Perry. Morgan Stanley Chief John Mack is also a major contributor.

Wall Street means big money for Democrats these days, so Clinton is wise to spend energy converting and cultivating a base there. But the timing of this fundraiser is especially prickly given the hot debates occurring lately in the House and Senate, as lawmakers decide on future of tax policy for private equity firms and hedge funds.

On the eve of the Blackstone I.P.O., Democrat Max Baucus of Montana and Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa introduced a bill to the Senate Finance Committee that would double taxes for listed private equity firms.

Then three Democrats began to raise trouble for fund managers in the House Ways and Means Committee. Charles Rangel, Barney Frank, and Carl Levin introduced a bill that seeks to reclassify major chunks of partners' pay as ordinary income rather than capital gains, upping the tax rate from 15 percent to 35 percent.

Clinton, both a sitting Senator and a Presidential candidate, has not made her position on fund taxation public. To oppose the new measures would be to go break with fellow Democrats and risk alienating the many voters not so fond of outsized executive compensation.

But Clinton may find herself between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the future of taxation of private equity firms and hedge funds. Supporting the measures would be a direct hit to the 50 big-hitters sitting around those tables tonight -- and to their moneyed friends.

by Liz Gunnison